The importance of setting KPIs in observability

It’s not about technology, it’s about business. Therefore, observability metrics become a key variable to take into account in order to understand if the right actions have been taken and to optimize future decisions.

Observability is a set of practices and tools for managing and controlling integrated and complex architectures. Increasingly, it is establishing itself as an evolution of monitoring, detecting anomalies and anticipating problems in the increasingly complex IT scenario.

But no longer from a technical perspective, such as understanding whether a server is working or not. Today, the focus is on understanding how each inconvenience in the systems impacts the user experience and, as a consequence, the results of your organization.

The three pillars of observability

The observability model is based on three pillars: logs, metrics and tracking. First, let’s analyze each of them in detail. Then, we will focus on the metrics.

1) Logs

Events are kept in logs which, in general, are presented in text format or some other human-understandable alternative. They are almost always generated by infrastructure elements: network devices, servers, clouds. But they can also be created from operating systems, middleware or digital platforms.

Their purpose: to record what could represent critical information about the operation of each of these elements.

The information it stores tends to be historical or retrospective. Its main use tends to be to establish context in operations management. In some cases, they include telemetry data with detailed information in real time.

2) Metrics

Metrics in observability are quantitative data that provide information about the performance of systems and applications. When properly collected and analyzed, they provide a measurable view of how your systems are performing.

3) Traces

Records of information paths or flows designed to analyze a unit of work, such as a transaction. To do this, it follows the sequence of processes that the application logic indicates.

Observability at the service of the business

To achieve successful observability results, it is necessary to integrate these three pillars. Working with them independently or using different tools for each function leads to disjointed data that is later difficult to apply.

In contrast, by using them in an integrated manner, it is possible to understand not only when problems occur, but why they occur.

While all three pillars are vital, it is important to consider some limitations they present. It is not always easy to sort through records to draw conclusions or establish relationships. Tracking often generates a lot of unnecessary data. And KPIs in observability are difficult to label and sort and need an open and broad view to help solve problems.

Therefore, when implementing the observability plan, the mindset should be focused not on the tools, but on the business objectives. The first step is to understand what the organization needs (improve the level of customer service, speed up the usage times of a certain application). Only after that can progress be made on the objectives of observability, which, of course, will be aligned with the first ones.

Defining KPIs for your business

In particular, observability metrics should be linked to business objectives. Some of them may be oriented to:

Attracting and retaining satisfied customers

Observability allows you to detect points of friction, delays or problems that may generate customer dissatisfaction. Then, corrective measures can be applied to solve those problems, make the purchase smoother and anticipate conflicts before they affect business results. In short, you can take the customer experience to a new level, generating higher levels of satisfaction and loyalty.

Detecting and anticipating fraudulent activity

Is the user’s current behavior inconsistent with their history? With the right metrics, you can anticipate these situations and create action plans in response. This protects the business and its reputation as well as the privacy and security of customers.

Driving financial results

Keep an eye on the factors that impact profitability and costs. Gaps are identified early and corrected before they affect the organization.

Conclusions

KPIs provide information on the performance of systems and applications, and are one of the pillars of observability.

However, their ultimate power lies not in the fact that professionals in the area can understand whether or not a server is performing as expected. It goes much further: they can be applied to understand how IT performance impacts the main business variables. Thus, it is a key enabler. It can drive customer experience, transaction security, increased profitability or lower costs, among other benefits.

Are you interested in aligning your technology roadmap with the growth of your organization? At Nubiral we have a team of observability experts who can help you on that journey. Schedule your meeting!

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